The view from the road leading to a rural Chinese village.

Through an interesting twist of fate, I find myself in Yunnan province, China…sipping tea, shooting video and photos, suggesting the use of locations like the one you see on the left…and eating more spicy vegetables than I ever have in my life.

After a grueling 31 hour set of flights from the east coast through Beijing to Jinghong…I was thankfully met at the airport by some wonderful coworkers and promptly checked into my hotel for a bit of unpacking.

Only three days later, I’m amazed at the sites I’ve seen… with so much more to come!

The view from the Xischaung Banna Nature Reserve cable car system.

In the morning of the next day, my coworkers and I made our way over to the Wild Elephant Valley in Xischaung Banna Nature Reserve. One can either walk up a tiled path to the complex of elevated cabins or take an incredibly scenic cable car ride through the valley. We chose the latter…absolutely worth the wait…the elevation of the cabins allows for visitors to spend the night in the valley and observe wild Asian elephants in their natural environment.

Once you arrive at the reserve via cable car, you enter the floor of the valley via a descending stone path…if you ever arrive here…keep your eyes up…there are several habituated gibbons on the loose…meant to serve as amusements for both the Reserve’s staff and for those tourists lucky enough to be spared the gibbon’s obnoxious yet welcoming behavior…

The obnoxious gibbon.

This one, on the left I named “Little f&%$&” after he swung down, grabbed my shoulder and cackled off…this was how I was alerted to his presence…humph! After the laughter quieted a bit…and we continued on…he swung down again and grabbed my beloved hair…for those of you who know me well…this is a no no…and the point at which I promptly dubbed him “Little f&%$&”. Again…laughter…then quiet…

Anyway…it’s been a good start here…with each new experience I realize how lucky I am…and lately how happy…I’m looking forward to continuing to explore and reporting back in!  Stay tuned…